1 edit | Building two low-end gaming PCs, ideas very welcome My kids are starting to complain about their PCs. I don't blame them as they do play on 6 year old Dells. I did some newegging and came up with what I thought was ok, but would like to hear from you guys. I plan to use their old hard drives and video cards (for now), as they were upgraded in the last year. Anyway, everything below is x2. I look forward to hearing about any changes or ideas.
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ASRock Z77 Pro4 - Comes with 8GB of free ram (Corsair). »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···13157296
Intel i3-3220 - 13 bucks off with a code »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···19116775
A Rosewill case »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···11147023
ThermalMax PS »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···17152028
Two copies of Win 7 OEM - $200 - They are starting to run into compatibility issues with some games and/or programs requiring Win 7. $99 bucks each seems steep, I've seen cheaper online but from places I never heard of.
Total price with discounts: $808 shipped |
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 KrisnatharokCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit
kudos:7 | What video cards are you using?
Keep in mind many discounts and MIRs are "1 per household." |
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| At the moment they have a nvidia 460 and a 550. I realize it won't be great, but the idea I go with for the kids PCs is small cheap upgrades every so often.
I usually discount the mail in discounts  I mean I've had success with EVGA ones twice, even though it took months to show up. The other discounts I have are straight up Newegg instant ones (66 bucks total). |
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| reply to irontoes
Your motherboard/CPU combo is a solid choice. I'm not a fan of the PSUs, but that's easy to say when I don't have to buy two of them. |
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| I am not either, but the price is good for me.
Found a cheaper Win7 64-bit for $65 @softwarespeedy.com. They are listed on Microsofts partners website. |
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| reply to irontoes
Looks fine. Not sure I'd want those PSUs |
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| reply to irontoes
»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···17139027
I'd get these Corsairs before the Raidmax. |
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| reply to Phantasee
I like that, thanks. |
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| Also better than RAIDmax most likely from what I've seen explode in the past. I've had a Cooler Master in a Dell that lasted a long time. Never trusted Raidmax. |
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Reviews:
 ·Charter
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to irontoes
Brands I've never had fail are:
Cooler Master
OCZ
Thermaltake
Ultra
I've had ONE Corsair fail but it was a GS series which is trash tier.
RAIDmax has died on me. Antec has died (killed HDD). Rosewill has died on me. Had 2 Apevia DOA, never got to even try them. |
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 Gordo74Premium
join:2003-10-28
Monroeville, PA | said by Phantasee:Brands I've never had fail are:
Cooler Master
OCZ
Thermaltake
Ultra
I've had ONE Corsair fail but it was a GS series which is trash tier.
RAIDmax has died on me. Antec has died (killed HDD). Rosewill has died on me. Had 2 Apevia DOA, never got to even try them.
It's important to note that brand bias is a bad way to go when looking at products.
That's like someone saying "Well I'm only going to buy a kia because one never failed on me!" (with a horrible track record across all averages).
You also have to take into consideration the product lines. For example, Rosewill's HIVE series is considered one of the best on the market, whereas their basic line is garbage. Antec's are generally good as well, whereas the OCZ and Thermaltake have product lines to stay away from too. |
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Reviews:
·Charter
·AT&T DSL Service
| I have no "brand bias". I try an array of brands and stick with what works. And Kia makes decent cars these days with a good track record since Hyundai builds/owns Kia.
I provided input based on what worked for me in real world testing. Not articles and stats. Was by no means biased. Sorry if it came off that way. |
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| reply to irontoes
Much like a lot of things these days, the label on the product doesn't really let you know who actually built it. This is an excellent article if you have not read it before. Definitely gives some insight into the PSU brand argument.
»www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pow···913.html |
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| Yea, saw that article. Good read. I've had no name brands last forever and more popular ones die or be DOA. You just never know. |
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| Here's the bottom line. If you are paying 40 dollars for anything over 700 watts. It's most likely Chinese trash. Unless it has some crazy rebate you MAY get back in 6 months. |
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KrisnatharokCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit
kudos:7 | reply to Gordo74
Good PSUs today are Corsair/Seasonic/PC Power & Cooling (I believe the OEM model in these three are generally the same thing), Rosewill (the rated models), Antec, Cougar, Kingwin (stick to the rated models).
Now all of these brands have lines I would stay away from, and I am sure there are other brands I didn't mention (EVGA, if for some reason you need a 1500w PSU) that make good PSUs as well.
Bottome line, don't let brand loyalty or the stray DOA sway you--go find a review on your model to know if you are getting something that is put together well or a piece of crap.
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Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. |
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| reply to irontoes
Why not just go with an AMD apu and some good ram. The A10 can play games at low/medium out of the box. |
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Gordo74Premium
join:2003-10-28
Monroeville, PA | said by I_H8_Spam:Why not just go with an AMD apu and some good ram. The A10 can play games at low/medium out of the box.
Because his 460 and 550 are much better. |
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| Yup. The 460 still packs more GPU horsepower than the A10 can bring. |
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| reply to irontoes
Thanks for the help guys. Ordered last Wednesday and most of it showed up Friday except the RAM and Win7 (from another vendor). Shipping was 10 bucks total, I was happy.
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Justice For Police Officer Daniel Faulkner |
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